Can puncturing and bottle cap removing device

ABSTRACT

A device, either supported upon a horizontal surface or mounted on a wall, providing a casing and a lever swingable from an outwardly and downwardly projecting attitude to a vertical attitude substantially flush with the front of the housing. When a conventional can is properly positioned against the lever in its angular attitude and pressed inwardly to move the lever to its vertical attitude a puncturing bar swings downwardly to puncture the top wall of the can. When the lever is in its vertical attitude a bottle decapping device, integral with the puncturing bar, is positioned to engage the cap of a bottle to cause removal thereof when the bottle is swung inwardly toward the lever. Cam means are provided in the casing which is operable by the lever to actuate the puncturing bar and bottle decapper and to return the lever to its angular attitude after the can or bottle is removed from the device.

United States Patent 1 Miller [54] CAN PUNCTURING AND BOTTLE CAP REMOVING DEVICE [76] Inventor: Jack Miller, 1410 20th' Street, Miami Beach, Fla.

22 Filed: June 28,1971

21 Appl.No.:157,293

Primary Examiner-Granville Y. Custer, Jr. Assistant Examiner-Roscoe V. Parker Attorney-John Cyril Malloy [451 Apr. 17, 1973 ABSTRACT A device, either supported upon a horizontal surface or mounted on a wall, providing a casing and a lever swingable from an outwardly and downwardly projecting attitude to a vertical attitude substantially flush with the front of the housing. When a conventional can is properly positioned against the lever in its angular attitude and pressed inwardly to move the lever to its vertical attitude a puncturing bar swings downwardly to puncture the top wall of the can. When the lever is in its vertical attitude a bottle decapping device, integral with the puncturing bar, is positioned to engage the cap of a bottle to cause removal thereof when the bottle is swung inwardly toward the lever. Cam means are provided in the casing which is operable by the lever to actuate the puncturing bar and hottle decapper and to return the lever to its angular attitude after the can or bottle is removed from the device.

12 Claims, 8 Drawing Egan-es Pmmmmm suanemz M W R m &w a w mm A u M M M CAN PUNCTURING AND BOTTLE CAP REMOVING DEVICE STATE OF THE PRIOR ART The present invention is an improvement over the Can Puncturing Device, US. Pat. No. 3,263,327 to Jack Miller. The device of this patent performs the single operation of puncturing the top wall of a can. The can is properly positioned against a swingable lever and pushed inwardly to cause a puncturing bar to swing downwardly to puncture the top wall of the can. When the can is removed from engagement with the lever, the lever and puncturing bar return to their normal positions. A crank arm within the housing of the device is operably connected to the lever and puncturing bar in a manner so as to cause the puncturing bar to puncture the top wall of the can when the lever is swung inwardly.

US. Pat. No. 3,032,872 to Zibbell and US. Pat. No. 3,152,395 to Turner both provide devices which per form the single operation of puncturing a can and both are designed to be mounted on a wall. They employ swinging arms which cause a puncturing bar to puncture the top wall of a conventional type of can.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION The instant invention provides a combination can puncturing and bottle decapping device which may be supported on a horizontal surface or hung on a wall. An upright housing is provided with an overhanging upper portion, a swingable lever is positioned under the overhanging portion and is normally angled downwardly and outwardly relative to the housing. A can puncturing bar is normally positioned within the overhanging housing portion and the decapping device, which is integral with the puncturing bar and is angled relative thereto, is normally positioned back within the main body portion of the housing.

The device of the present invention is adapted to puncture the top wall of various sized cans up to the size of large juice cans. When a can is properly positioned against the lever and pushed inwardly until said lever assumes a substantially vertical attitude, the puncturing bar swings downwardly and punctures the top wall of the can.

When the lever is held in its substantially vertical attitude, the bottle decapping device is positioned just outside of the mouth of the overhanging housing portion and the cap of a bottle may be engaged in the decapping device and inward swinging movement of the bottle causes the cap to be removed.

Cam means within the housing is operable by the inward swinging movement of the lever to puncture the top wall of a can and to operably position the bottle decapping device. The cam means and lever return to their normal positions by gravity.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a side elevational view of the device of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view thereof;

FIG. 3 is a rear elevational view of the device;

FIG. 4 is a vertical cross sectional view taken along the line 4-4 in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a view of the can puncturing and bottle decapping unit as seen along the line 55 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is across sectional view taken along the line 6--6 in FIG. 4;

FIG. 7 is a vertical cross sectional view similar to FIG. 4 illustrating the can puncturing operation; and

FIG. 8 is a side elevational view of the device of the present invention illustrating the bottle decapping operation.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION With reference to the drawings in which like reference numerals designate like or similar parts throughout the various views and with particular reference to FIGS. 1, 2 and 3 the device of the present invention includes a housing 10 which is preferably molded of a suitable plastic and, as illustrated the housing is of one piece and provides side walls 12 and 14, a bottom wall 16, a top wall 18, and a rear wall 20. A plurality of keyhole slots 22 are formed in the rear wall 20 whereby the device may be supported by nails or screws fixed in a wall.

The upper portion of the housing 10 extends forwardly to provide an overhang 24. The underpart of the overhang 24 provides an open mouth 26 and angularly disposed side edges 28 and 30. From the open mouth 26 to the bottom wall 16, the front of the housing is open as at 32 and a can lever 34 is pivotally supported on a shaft 36 which is fixed in the side walls 12 and 14 to span the open front 32 adjacent the open mouth 26. The upper end of the lever 34 is provided with a pair of spaced apart ears 38 and 40 which include appropriate aligned apertures for pivotal engagement on the shaft The vertical marginal edges of the can lever 34 are provided with inwardly projecting wings 42 and 44 that telescope within the housing when the device is operated to provide protection for the fingers of the operator. As best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6, the wings 42 and 44 include respective thickened arcuate lower edges 46 and 48 and the front faced the lever 34 is transversely concave as indicated by the numeral 50.

With particular reference to FIGS. 2, 4 and 5, an L- shaped can puncturing and bottle cap removing unit, indicated generally at 52, includes a pair of downwardly turned ears 54 and 56 which are pivotally disposed on the shaft 36 between the spaced apart lever ears 38 and 40. Normally, the can puncturing bar 58 is positioned within the mouth 26 and the cap remover 60, formed integraltherewith, is angled relative to the bar 58 a sufficient degree to position said cap remover out of but closely adjacent to the mouth 26 when the lever 34 is pivoted from its normal angular attitude to its vertical attitude as illustrated in FIGS. 7 and 8.

The can puncturing bar 58 comprises one leg of the unit 52 and a second leg 62 includes a finger 64 turned approximately at right angles thereto and a lip66 is turned inwardly from the end of the finger 64 to engage under the edge of a bottle cap on a bottle. As illustrated in FIGS. 2, 4 and 6, the puncturing bar 58, is pointed as at 68 and the converging edges 70 and 72 are sharpened to make a clean cut in a can. The forward portion of the bar 58 is preferably turned downwardly as at 74.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4, 5 and 7 the unit 52 is provided with a dove tail connection to a link member 76. The marginal edges of the leg 62 provide downwardly and inwardly turned tabs "77 which are slidably engaged over the dove tailed portion 78 of the link 76. An outwardly turned stop tab 80 is struck from the finger 64 to abut the rear end of the dove tailed portion 78 to accurately position the unit 52 on the link member 76. A bottle cap abutment button 82 extends inwardly from the leg 62 and includes a stud portion 84 which is press fitted into a hole 86 extending through the leg 62 into the link member 76. Button 82 serves the dual purpose of providing a fulcrum point for removing a cap from a bottle and for locking the unit 52 to the link 76.

The link member 76 pivotally links the puncturing and decapping unit 52 to the upper end 88 of a cam 90 as by the pivot pin 92. From the point of pivotal connection to the link 76, the main body portion 94 of the cam extends generally downwardly through the interior of the housing and terminates in an enlarged lower end 96, having a forwardly extending portion 98 which normally extends out of the confines of the housing into the chamber provided by lever 34 and wings 42 and 44. Bosses 100 and 102 extend outwardly in opposed directions from the distal end of the portion 98 into close proximity to the wings 42 and 44.

As illustrated in FIGS. 4, 6 and 7 the wings 42 and 44 are provided at their lower end portions with respective inwardly and generally upwardly projecting ridges 104 and 106 just inwardly of the bosses 100 and 102. As illustrated, the bosses 100 and 102 normally lie against the inside face 108 of the lever 34 and the ridges 104 and 106, which are generally parallel to the lever 34, form tracks with respect to the face 108 whereby movement of the bosses 100 and 102 is confined to a path, generally parallel to the lever 34.

The inner portion of the enlarged lower end 96 of the cam 90 includes an outwardly rounded projection 110 in engagement with an inclined cam track 112, preferably formed integral with the housing. The upper and lower ends of the fixed cam track 112 are flared as at 114 and 116.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 7, an inwardly projecting stop abutment 118 is formed integral with the back wall 18. The abutment 1 18 cooperates with lower and upper inwardly rounded surfaces 120 and 122 on the rear edge of the cam to respectively limit upward and downward movement of the cam 90. The rounded projection 110 is longitudinally grooved as at 124 and a stop pin 126 extends upwardly through the bottom wall 16 and cam track 1 12 into the groove 124 whereby the back wall 128 of said groove is adapted to contact the stop pin to limit the outward movement of the cam 90.

In use, a conventional type of cam 130, having flat end walls with circumferential beads, is placed against the concave surface 50 of the lever 34 immediately under the overhang as illustrated in FIG. 4 and is initially retained in place by a retaining lip 132, struck downwardly from the puncturing bar 58. Inward forces are directed against lever 34, through the can, and the rounded projection 110 on the cam 92 rides up the inclined cam track 112 causing the cam to move generally upwardly resulting in relative pivotal movement of the link 76 about the pin 92 and the pivot shaft 36 to pivot the puncturing bar downwardly through the top wall of the can 130 as illustrated in FIG. 7.

The can 130 is then slid downwardly along the lever 34 until it is removed from the penetrating bar 58 and is then disengaged from the lever 34 permitting the cam 92 to drop by gravity and return all elements to their normal positions as illustrated in FIG. 4. If desirable a heavy plug of lead 134 may be provided to extend through the bosses and 102.

FIG. 8 illustrates the procedure employed in removing the cap from a bottle. First the lever 34 is pivoted inwardly, pivoting the puncturing bar 58 downwardly out of the mouth 26 to expose the cap remover 60, and the bottle cap of a bottle 142 is positioned against the fulcrum button 84 with the edge of the cap behind the lip 66. Inward swinging movement of the bottle results in removal of the cap 140. When the bottle is removed and the lever released, the elements all assume their normal positions by gravity forces.

All of the elements of the device are prefereably molded of a suitable plastic with the exception of the puncturing bar and cap remover unit 52 which is preferably formed of hardened steel. A small metal insert 144 may be embedded in the top of the lever 34 at the point of contact of the can bead during the puncturing operation as illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 4.

While a preferred form of the present invention has been illustrated and described, it will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various changes and modifications can be made therein without departing from the true spirit of the invention as defined in the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A can puncturing and bottle cap removing device for use in puncturing the end walls of cans of the type having opposite end walls and circumferential beads and for removing the caps from bottles of the type having bottle cap closures, said device comprising,

A. a housing having,

1. an open forward side,

2. an upper, forwardly extending overhang provida. an underneath open mouth;

B. a can lever, pivotally connected to the housing adjacent to said overhang on a first pivot, said can lever normally being angled downwardly and away from said open side and being swingable into said open side by inwardly directed forces which may be directly, manually applied or applied by pressing a can thereagainst;

C. a unit comprising, a can puncturing bar, normally disposed within said open mouth, and means for removing the cap from a bottle, normally disposed inwardly of said bar, within the upper end of said housing, said unit being pivotally connected to said first pivot;

D. a link carrying said unit in a fixed relation;

E. means pivoted to said link by a second pivot which is operable to rotate said unit when a can is forced against said lever causing said puncturing bar to swing from its normal position into puncturing engagement with the adjacent end of the can, and said bottle cap removing means to swing from its normal position to an operable position outwardly of said open mouth whereby the cap of a bottle may be engaged therein for its removal when the inwardly directed forces are directly, manually applied;

F. means for returning the puncturing bar, bottle cap removing means and lever to their normal inoperative positions when the inwardly directed forces are removed; and

G. said means operable to rotate comprising:

a cam means within said housing,

a forwardly extending portion in engagement with said lever and cam means,

guide means for said cam means including an inclined track on said housing and means engaging said track constraining movement of said cam means to a predetermined path of movement along said track, and

said cam means including an upper end pivoted to said link by said second pivot,

whereby the inwardly directed forces on said lever cause said cam to ride up said cam track and to impart relative swinging movement to said unit through said link and first and second pivots.

2. The device as defined in claim 1 including means, struck downwardly from said puncturing bar, to initially engage and hold the bead ofa can.

3. The device as defined in claim 1 in which said forwardly extending portion includes a pair of oppositely extending bosses in engagement with the inner surface of said lever and the marginal edges of said lever are provided with inwardly projecting wings that telescope within the housing when said lever is swung inwardly.

4. The device as defined in claim 3 in which the lower portion of each of said wings includes an inwardly extending ridge, spaced from and parallel to said lever, to form guideways for said bosses.

5. The device as defined in claim 1 in which said unit is generally L-shaped and said puncturing bar forms the first leg of the L and includes a pair of mounting ears which are pivotally supported on said first pivot and the second leg of the L includes an inwardly turned finger at its distal end, said finger includes an inwardly turned lip on its distal end to engage under the edge of a bottle cap on a bottle.

6. The device as defined in claim 5 in which said second leg is provided with a clove tail connection to said link and an outwardly turned tab to position said unit relative to said link.

7. The device as defined in claim 6 including a bottle cap abutment button having a stud portion press fitted through an aperture in said second leg into a hole in said link to fix said unit to said link. I

8. The device as defined in claim 1 including a transverse, inwardly extending abutment formed integral with the back wall of said housing which is in the path of travel of said cam to limit upward movement of said cam during actuation of the device.

9. The device as defined in claim 8 including a stop pin extending upwardly through the bottom wall of said housing which is in the path of travel of said cam to limit the outward movement thereof.

10. The device as defined in claim 3 in which said means for returning comprises the forces of gravity acting on said cam when the inwardly directed forces are released from said lever.

11. The device as defined in claim 10 including a lead weight fixed to said cam.

12. The device as defined in claim 11 in which said lead weight comprises a lead plug extending through said pair of bosses. 

1. A can puncturing and bottle cap removing device for use in puncturing the end walls of cans of the type having opposite end walls and circumferential beads and for removing the caps from bottles of the type having bottle cap closures, said device comprising, A. a housing having,
 1. an open forward side,
 2. an upper, forwardly extending overhang providing, a. an underneath open mouth; B. a can lever, pivotally connected to the housing adjacent to said overhang on a first pivot, said can lever normally being angled downwardly and away from said open side and being swingable into said open side by inwardly directed forces which may be directly, manually applied or applied by pressing a can thereagainst; C. a unit comprising, a can puncturing bar, normally disposed within said open mouth, and means for removing the cap from a bottle, normally disposed inwardly of said bar, within the upper end of said housing, said unit being pivotally connected to said first pivot; D. a link carrying said unit in a fixed relation; E. means pivoted to said link by a second pivot which is operable to rotate said unit when a can is forced against said lever causing said puncturing bar to swing from its normal position into puncturing engagement with the adjacent end of the can, and said bottle cap removing means to swing from its normal position to an operable position outwardly of said open mouth whereby the cap of a bottle may be engaged therein for its removal when the inwardly directed forces are directly, manually applied; F. means for returning the puncturing bar, bottle cap removing means and lever to their normal inoperative positions when the inwardly directed forces are removed; and G. said means operable to rotate comprising: a cam means within said housing, a forwardly extending portion in engagement with said lever and cam means, guide means for said cam means including an inclined track on said housing and means engaging said track constraining movement of said cam means to a predetermined path of movement along said track, and said cam means including an upper end pivoted to said link by said second pivot, whereby the inwardly directed forces on said lever cause said cam to ride up said cam track and to impart relative swinging movement to said unit through said link and first and second pivots.
 2. The device as defined in claim 1 including means, struck downwardly from said puncturing bar, to initially engage and hold the bead of a can.
 2. an upper, forwardly extending overhang providing, a. an underneath open mouth; B. a can lever, pivotally connected to the housing adjacent to said overhang on a first pivot, said can lever normally being angled downwardly and away from said open side and being swingable into said open side by inwardly directed forces which may be directly, manually applied or applied by pressing a can thereagainst; C. a unit comprising, a can puncturing bar, normally disposed within said open mouth, and means for removing the cap from a bottle, normally disposed inwardly of said bar, within the upper end of said housing, said unit being pivotally connected to said first pivot; D. a link carrying said unit in a fixed relation; E. means pivoted to said link by a second pivot which is operable to rotate said unit when a can is forced against said lever causing said puncturing bar to swing from its normal position into puncturing engagement with the adjacent end of the can, and said bottle cap removing means to swing from its normal position to an operable position outwardly of said open mouth whereby the cap of a bottle may be engaged therein for its removal when the inwardly directed forces are directly, manually applied; F. means for returning the puncturing bar, bottle cap removing means and lever to their normal inoperative positions when the inwardly directed forces are removed; and G. said means operable to rotate comprising: a cam means within said housing, a forwardly extending portion in engagement with said lever and cam means, guide means for said cam means including an inclined track on said housing and means engaging said track constraining movement of said cam means to a predetermined path of movement along said track, and said cam means including an upper end pivoted to said link by said second pivot, whereby the inwardly directed forces on said lever cause said cam to ride up said cam track and to impart relative swinging movement to said unit through said link and first and second pivots.
 3. The device as defined in claim 1 in which said forwardly extending portion includes a pair of oppositely extending bosses in engagement with the inner surface of said lever and the marginal edges of said lever are provided with inwardly projecting wings that telescope within the housing when said lever is swung inwardly.
 4. The device as defined in claim 3 in which the lower portion of each of said wings includes an inwardly extending ridge, spaced from and parallel to said lever, to form guideways for said bosses.
 5. The device as defined in claim 1 in which said unit is generally L-shaped and said puncturing bar forms the first leg of the L and includes a pair of mounting ears which are pivotally supported on said first pivot and the second leg of the L includes an inwardly turned finger at its distal end, said finger includes an inwardly turned lip on its distal end to engage under the edge of a bottle cap on a bottle.
 6. The device as defined in claim 5 in which said second leg is provided with a dove tail connection to said link and an outwardly turned tab to position said unit relative to said link.
 7. The device as defined in claim 6 including a bottle cap abutment button having a stud portion press fitted through an aperture in said second leg into a hole in said link to fix said unit to said link.
 8. The device as defined in claim 1 including a transverse, inwardly extending abutment formed integral with the back wall of said housing which is in the path of travel of said cam to limit upward movement of said cam during actuation of the device.
 9. The device as defined in claim 8 including a stop pin extending upwardly through the bottom wall of said housing which is in the path of travel of said cam to limit the outward movement thereof.
 10. The device as defined in claim 3 in which said means for returning comprises the forces of gravity acting on said cam when the inwardly directed forces are released from said lever.
 11. The device as defined in claim 10 including a lead weight fixed to said cam.
 12. The device as defined in claim 11 in which said lead weight comprises a lead plug extending through said pair of bosses. 